{Re*Made}: Nightstand Revival

I'm slowly trying to get back in the swing of things with my design work and completing my goal list.  I know I won't be able to get it all done this year as I had hoped, but I think, for me, it was a great start. 

So, I finally have a new {Spit*Shined} project for October.  Woo hoo! 

Regrettably, I have inherited a few new pieces of furniture.  Some are going in storage until I have a home large enough to showcase them and properly utilize them.  Others are replacing pieces I currently own as they are much better quality.  But in the case of one small little piece of furniture, it was going to fill a void in my bathroom, after a makeover, of course.  :)

For as much storage as our little house has, we still need more.  But isn't that the story for everyone?!  I especially needed a little more storage in our bathroom for all my junk:  hair do-dads, specialty make-up, nail polish, that sorta thing.  All that has been in our bathroom cabinet but gets hidden behind our first-aid box, linens and shared daily toiletries. 

You may remember that our bathroom has a large vanity counter that is open underneath:  the perfect place to add in a little extra storage.  I've had my eyes open for something that would fit underneath it, but most pre-manufactured things I have found are too tall. 

My mom had a nightstand in her bedroom that she'd had for as long as I can remember.  It needed a little TLC, but I really thought it would be the perfect piece to go under our vanity.  The two extra drawers would give me plenty more space to stash my stuff and clean out our cabinet.

However, it, too, was too tall.  By like only two inches!!  But, after looking at how the piece was originally constructed, we saw that it would be pretty easy to eliminate those two inches (and a couple more) although I would have to lose the front base piece.  I really liked that little detail, but I needed this piece to work, so off it came.

Next was the painting part.  You may also remember that my bathroom has baby blue and baby pink colored tile.  Not the greatest color scheme in the world, but hey, gotta work with what I got.  I have slowly begun incorporating grey accents and I think it's working well.  So I decided to paint this little chest grey, but I wanted to 1) use cream also so it wasn't just a flat Navy-ship-grey piece, and 2) do a little painter's tape "stenciling".

First, since the cream was going to be my "detail" color, I painted those areas first in the cream.  That included the moulding at the top, the sides and the drawers.

After a couple of coats and drying, I applied the painter's tape to those areas I wanted to stay cream:  the moulding at the top of the chest, the edge and face of the drawers, and a trompe l'oeil moulding on the side.

I cheated a bit doing the moulding stencil on the side.  The right and proper way would have been to measure, use a level to make sure my lines were square, etc.  We still have tons of boxes from my mom's move and when I saw one open, I thought the flap would make a great stencil.  So I found a box that was the right size, cut off the flap and taped it to the side of my chest.  I then applied the tape to the outside of the flap, eyeballing the levelness.  My square may not be perfectly square, but you can't tell and it was a super quick way to get it done.

I used a separate circle object--a plastic bubble container you get in those gumball-type toy vending machines to be exact--to draw my curves, then cut off the excess tape. 

Once all the tape was in place, I applied the grey paint.  I went glossy with the paint, which is something I never do.  I'm just not a glossy girl.  But I thought being surrounded by glazed tile, a glossy chest would look best.  (ha ha, I was a poet and didn't know it.  Yes, I'm always cheesy like that.) 
Again, a couple of coats and let it dry.

Finally dry, it was time to remove the tape.  I love this part, seeing the idea revealed.  Plus, it's fun peeling the tape. :)

When we redid the bathroom, we used vintage-inspired glass knobs on the cabinets.  I wanted to keep that same look with this chest, and remembered I had some truly vintage glass cabinet handles stored away, waiting for their perfect place.  Perfect place found!  And I got lucky that the existing holes were the right size and space apart.

So, paint is dry, tape removed, handles installed.
Presenting a revived nightstand turned bathroom storage chest.

It really is a new piece of furniture.  I love looking at the before and afters just because it is so dramatic.  And it fits perfectly in our bathroom, now housing all my goodies.  Yay!

So, whadya think?

Hope you found a little inspiration.  :)

ta-ta for now...

Linking up here:  Get Your DIY On 

For the Love of Junk {Warrenton Fall 2012}

Spring and Fall are definitely the better seasons in  South Texas, in my opinion.  If it's a good year, we are still getting enough rain to keep the grass green.  The breeze is blowing enough of a cool wind that even on hot days, which are generally high 80's, low 90's, it's not that hot.  In Spring, we can emerge outside, enjoy the sunshine after a drab Winter.  In the Fall, we can again enjoy being outside after a brutally hot Summer.

Spring and Fall in Texas also means Texas Antique Week, when the thousands flock to two of the tiniest towns in Texas located in one of the more beautiful parts *IMO*--Round Top & Warrenton.  I have actually only been a handful of times but each year I go, it leaves me wanting more.  After a few years reprieve, we were finally able to make it to the last weekend.  Which I think is the best time to go because the vendors are making great deals so they don't have to pack up what's left over. 

We stuck to Warrenton this year, and I had really one main goal in mind:  find new dining chairs.  And anything else that may tickle my fancy. :)

Our day started early, and with that I made the executive decision to stop at one of the best Czech bakeries around.  Cream cheese kolaches and sausage rolls with awesome sausage was the breakfast of choice, and O. M. G.  My new goal:  learn how to make kolaches the Czech way because these were AMAZING!

I highly recommend a stop to the Kountry Bakery if you are ever in the area.

So anyhoo, awesome breakfast to get us started, which was a must since we were going to be walking lots and lots that day.  There are literally miles and miles of stuff to see.  And you cannot see it all in a day, but I did see a few things I thought would be fun to share with you.

We had to walk by this guy going in and let me tell you, the smells from this little bug were amazing!  I love the way coffee smells.  And how cute is he, too?!



A "trend" I noticed this year were these extra large 3-D metal letters.  We debated getting one for our house because they are pretty cool.  But one vendor had taken them and made lamps.  Now those were cool.
I thought this shot was neat, too, because you can see the variety of things you'll see in just one booth.

I love the hats!  Lots of vintage and retro clothes & accessories.

That same booth had these cool vintage lights.  I love the globes!

There is a lot of art and not just antique art.  People bring in their own works, and displays.  This one was too quirky not to share.  Kinda perfect for Halloween I guess.  :)

I guess I was into lights this year, ha ha!  But these were my favorite, by far.  This guy took random, everyday vintage items and made them into pendants.  Wire baskets, mason jar chicken feeders, metal pails, and more.  They were so cool and would have looked awesome in my kitchen window.

This is how my hubby spent the day:  searching for every toy booth to add to his police car collection.  He fared much better than me!

Finally, I scored on dining chairs!  These chairs weren't exactly what I thought I was looking for, but when I saw them, I knew.  They were also already re-upholstered in a fabric that would look pretty good in our house.  But I still needed two more....

This was a prefect example of taking old and new materials, and making a totally new object.  It was set up as a fountain, but I'm sure you could set it up to be a working sink. 

These metal filigree wall hangings were pretty popular too.

What a great mix!

I was getting a little worried about finding these because it wasn't until the very end of the day that we came across them.  But we finally found our two end chairs.  And they aren't an identical pair (one is a bit larger than the other) which makes it perfect for his and hers chairs! :)

My other great find of the day was this gorg cameo broach.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's actually a reverse cameo.  Love it!

I can't wait until Spring to go again.  I think I've convinced my brother to come along this time and take a look.  But if you love old junk, old junk made into new junk, or new junk made to look old, then this is definitely the place you need to check out.

O, and our new dining chairs look awesome!  Much better than our former chairs.  :)



So very happy!  :)

Hope you felt the love too!

ta-ta for now,

Improv Wreath

This is going to be short and sweet, but it was too sweet not to share.  :)  And the title pretty much says it all.

I finally got my fall decor out and set up.  Now all I need is a pumpkin spice bundt cake baking in the oven to smell up the house, and I'm good!

Well, that, and a wreath.  I couldn't believe I didn't have a fall wreath in all my stuff!  And I needed one!

Light bulb!  I remembered I had one of those woven vine wreaths that I recently inherited from my mom, as well as LOTS of crocheted doilies.  My mom loved to crochet--a hobby I wished I had paid more attention to and had her teach me--and she had tons of doilies she made as well as my great-grandmother.

But anyhoo, I needed a way to attach the doily to the wreath that wasn't permanent and that wouldn't damage the doily.

Enter the ever-multi-use twist-ties.  :)

Once I had the doily attached to the wreath, I needed a ribbon hanger, and I felt like it needed a bow of some sort.

I have no fall-ish ribbon, but I remembered I had some vintagey-looking fabric in fall colors that I thought would be pretty cute.  I cut a few scrap strips and tied one to be the hanger.

I tried to make those cute fabric flowers you see everywhere, but couldn't make it happen.  So I settled on a bow.  Twist-tied it on, and voila!

I hung it on the inside of my door so the doily wouldn't be exposed to the elements, and so I can enjoy it!  I love it!  So simple and easy and fall!  :D

I love how the light plays with the voids in the doily.

Hope you found a little inspiration too!

ta-ta for now,

Re{made}

This past month has been a roller coaster of emotions.  I've been going through my Mom's things and pictures and have been truly amazed at how quickly time flies.  Twenty-eight years seems like so long, especially to someone who is 5, 10, or even 15 years old.  Heck, even 20.  But it's not, in the grand scheme of things.  Some things seem like yesterday and others, lifetimes ago.  What I'm getting at (because I have a tendency to blab on, ha ha) is that life is short and I'm ready to make things happen, rather than wait for them to happen. 

When I created Just Crafty, it was done with the cards and invites I had been designing in mind.  I felt like they were a craft; that I was crafty.  Plus, the words formed my initials, or vice versa, ha ha.  But I feel like there is a certain connotation with those words that put me in a corner--not as professional as I'd like to come off.  Especially with the direction I'd like to take my business.  After completing my graphic design degree, I hope to do more with that with regards to graphics, logos, branding, that sort of thing, in addition to continuing my wedding invitation collection and doing custom stationary projects for clients.  But I also want to venture back into the interior design world.  You've seen my little projects I've done on my own home, but I want to do more for you.  :)

I've never been the type of person to flaunt myself.  And I never wanted my business to be my name.  Some might say that's a confidence issue, but I disagree.  It's just not me.  I am not just my name; I am a multitude of things.  And my style, influences, and tastes seem to always change.  I am my own worst client, ha ha!  But one thing is constant:  I love to make things.  And that is the basis for my business' new identity.

I think I'll always be crafty, but I'm also a lot of other things, so the transition was necessary.  And I hope it's the new door opened for me after having to close so many this year.

So without further ado, introducing:

I'm going to make the transition slowly, but you'll start to see this name here in my blog, on Facebook, on my website and on Pinterest as well--which if you're not, you should definitely be following me!  To all of my faithful Just Crafty followers, thank you so very much for your support these past couple of years.  I hope that you will continue to enjoy what is to come with Be Made Designs.  I have so many ideas and look forward to the future.

And speaking of ideas, I also have a new project to show off!  Woo hoo!!  It's been too long and felt good to get back into the swing of things, sorta.  It's a small one, but still a good one.  :)

I have had my eye on this guy for some time:

"Beurre" Butter Dish Courtesy Williams-Sonoma

My functional/rational side can't justify the expense though.  But I have a definite need for a butter dish, so I decided to create my own. 

Really, the main reason I wanted that particular dish was for the "BEURRE" on the top.  But why couldn't I add that myself to a plain-jane $3 butter dish?  Well, I could, but the issue with those is the lid design isn't conducive to lifting easily, meaning, I had a hard time grabbing the slippery glass top, and in one such instance, it fell and broke.  But, why couldn't I add a "grabber" of some sort?  So, I decided I would.  :)

So here we are, $3 plain-jane glass butter dish and a $2 baby glass knob.

I knew I wanted to use my etching paste to write on the glass so I printed the word "beurre" in a size that fit the space and a font that lent a little to a vintage feel.

I cut out each word then taped it to the inside of the lid.

The painting part was a little tricky.  The glass is thicker than it appears, which played tricks on my eyes, but I managed to get it decently traced/painted.  :)  Not too shabby...

With both sides painted, I let it sit for the specified time on the bottle.  But now I had the knob to contend with. 

Obviously I had to get the bolt off, so with a sweet bat of my eyes, I got my hubby to saw it off with his Dremel.  Not that I couldn't do it, I just like it when he helps me.  :)  We're a team, through and through.  :)

So, knob bolt sawed off.  Now it was time to attach.  I washed the etching paste off the lid then got out my trusty E6000 glue--which I only recently discovered and am now in love with--and, well, attached. 

Lookin' good...

Now, to put it to use...

 

 

I really like it!  It turned out just how it was in my head and is so much more functional--to me, at least! 

So, whadya think?

Hope you were a little inspired!

And keep watch for more from Be Made Designs!  Lots to come I hope, including an update on our Living Room and a new room in {My Old House}!  Woo hoo!

ttfn,